-> Plato is right, you need vision and foresight to run a sustainable state
 -> for the benefit of all.  Oligarchy based on wisdom, not wealth, has never
 -> been tried.
 HW> Probably you are aware that Plato's Republic, "based on wisdom, not
 HW> wealth" has been labeled 'totalitarian.' There's some justification for
 HW> that label, IMHO.
   In the first place, totalitarian regiemes could not even be dreamed about
in the ancient world.  It is strictly a 20th century phenomenon.
   Yes, Plato's recommendation for a "best polis" HAS been loosely compared 
o
modern totalitarian regiemes but the best "fit" for that would be his
prescription in _Laws_ for a "second best polis" where the Nocturnal Council
would determine even the intellectual consumption of the masses in order to
screen out art considered destructive to the polis.  Bolivar thought this
Platonic constitution would be (grin) entirely fitting for a liberated state
like Bolivia!  You can imagine how long THAT lasted. Bolivar was, of course,
steeped in the enlightenment from which we derive much of modern political
thought including the murderous political paranoids who drew on thought such
as Marx, Comte, et al to establish the REAL totalitarian regiemes of our
century using the "lumpenproletariat" to accomplish their desires only
well-described by Plato-Socrates in paradigms like the "beast that goes on 
he
rampage" when the "waking" mind is "asleep."  
   You may recall that the fastidious Robespierre kept his OWN person well
away from the stench and horror of the political murder he sanctioned in the
interest of "progress."
Sincerely, 
                                     Frank
                                                                              
                                                       
--- PPoint 2.05
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